Objective To examine the status of exposure to tobacco control and sale promotion through public media and to health warning on cigarette package among rural residents in Wuhan municipality of Hubei province.

Methods Using stratified multistage probability cluster sampling, we selected 2 500 persons aged 15 years and above from 2 500 households in 25 administrative villages of 6 rural districts of Wuhan municipality, Hubei province and then conducted a electronic questionnaire household survey on obtaining information about tobacco control through public media during previous 30 days among the residents in November and December 2015.

Results Of the 2 148 participants with eligible responses, 63.73% reported acquiring tobacco control information through public media and the proportions of the participants acquiring the information through newspapers or magazines and television programs were 30.38% and 59.93%. Significantly higher proportions (67.81%, 72.40% and 83.98%) of acquiring tobacco control information through public media were reported by the male participants, the participants aged 15 – 24 years, and those with the education of college and above. Of the current smokers surveyed, 90.70% reported noticing about health warning on cigarette package and 37.97% reported considering smoking cessation due to the notice on health warning on cigarette package; higher proportion of noticing about health warning on cigarette package and considering smoking cessation due to the notice of the health warning were reported by the current smokers aged 25 – 44 years (92.52% and 45.44%) and those with the education of senior high school (92.00% and 37.60%). Of the participants, 4.50% reported ever noticing tobacco advertisements in stores and 6.87% reported ever noticing tobacco advertisements and encountering tobacco sale promotion.

Conclusion In Wuhan city, the proportion of acquiring tobacco control information through public media is low among rural adult residents; most of the rural current smokers are aware of health warnings on cigarette package but the tobacco control effect of the warnings is poor; there are still tobacco advertisements and sale promotion in rural areas of the city. The results suggest that tobacco control program needs to be promoted among rural residents in the city.